People like the Rev. Bruce Willis say it's unlikely the county will ever go wet. He says people won't vote for it in a rural area where family values are important.

Translation: Anyone who tries to get the law changed gets his ass handed to him in the next election by his opponent conveniently running on a "family values" platform, knowing full well that NOBODY will vote against "family values" whatever the hell that means.

Not unlike anyone in California who tries to get the three-strikes law amended and then gets clobbered by whoever wants to win running on a "tough on crime" ticket. Because we can't be soft on crime, right?

revrendjim:I lived in a dry county in west Texas. You knew you reached the county line when there was a liquor store next to the highway in the middle of nowhere.

Yep, there are several dry counties in my area, and there's a "gas station" just outside the county line on every road, and an ABC Store on the main road. Inside each "gas station", they have wall-length beer coolers on at least two of the walls.

I don't know about Alabama politics, but every single time a Wet/Dry vote comes up in Kentucky, you know in advance who's going to say what.

The Dry side will be lead by the preachers, especially the Southern Baptist ones. They'll be preaching from the pulpit (and writing to the newspapers, and maybe speaking on local radio stations) about how this vote will lead to more drunk driving, hence wrecks and deaths and endangering children. They'll talk about how alcohol destroys morality and is sinful and anti-Christian and it goes against the values of the community. They'll basically recite verbatim the temperance movement speeches of a century ago.

The Wet side will be lead by businessmen. They'll note how people already drink in the county, they just drive to the nearest Wet county to buy liquor (typically at one right on the county line). They'll note how people leave town to go several towns over to go to a place that serves liquor so they can have beer or wine with their meal. They'll argue about how bringing liquor sales in locally won't change how much drinking is done, but it will make sure the purchases are local and thus put money into the local economy.

As to which side wins, it's usually the businessmen leading the Wet charge, since everybody is drinking anyway and the idea of having better restaurants locally and not having to drive for 40 or 50 minutes to get to a liquor store is appealing. However, sometimes (especially in more rural counties where the preachers have more public power) the Dry vote still wins out.

BitwiseShift:Usually drinkers are more discrete in dry counties. Most days. Same thing for marijuana smokers -- more discrete in places that frown on marijuana. Serial killers really have the hardest time.

Yes, there are only a few counties that allow serial killers to work openly and without glares from the general populace.

I just set foot in Alabama for the first time in my life today. First thing I saw coming through the clouds were a couple of huge churches. I got to thinking that damn, I'm a Yankee, a heathen, and by their terms at least, a librul. I'm pretty much not going to talk down here.

To be fair, I haven't heard "Y'all are from around here, are ya?" or "Roll Tide!" yet. But I've only seen family. I've got a full day down here tomorrow before I have to go to a funeral on Tuesday. Right now I'm in the hotel, and there are no less than 15 different religious channels on the TV. I did manage to get beer tonight though.

Sure, the cost of living might be cheaper around here, but other than that I haven't seen a single compelling reason to spend any time here.

Even today, Clay County is one of only three counties in Alabama to have no U.S. Highways in its boundaries. - Check. Hopeless backwater.

During the Desert Shield/Storm conflict, Clay County had more soldiers serving per capita than any other county in the United States - Check. They'd do anything to get out of there.

Clay County, AL, violent crime, on a scale from 1 (low crime) to 10, is 6. Violent crime is composed of four offenses: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. The US average is 4. Check. Above average violent crime.

17.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.60% of those under age 18 and 19.00% of those age 65 or over.

Gyrfalcon:Not unlike anyone in California who tries to get the three-strikes law amended and then gets clobbered by whoever wants to win running on a "tough on crime" ticket. Because we can't be soft on crime, right?

I'm so glad I don't live in one of those wet/dry county states, mine is screwed up enough with an artificial cap on liquor licenses that was set by the legislature a decade or two ago. They based number of licenses on population...the problem is that counties that have seen a huge increase in population still have the old number of liquor licenses to go around, and counties that have less still have the same number they did when the cap was enacted.

In short, it makes no sense to me. If a business can pay for a liquor license, let 'em have one. If they run a shiatty bar, it will be out of business soon enough anyway.

It isn't illegal to have a small amount of alcohol in Clay CountyNopeIt is legal to have ENORMOUS amounts of alcohol in Clay County.Turns out it is unconstitutional for a state to make possession of alcohol illegal.So go ahead and buy 3 kegs for your house.And just shoot the revenoors if they show up.

I moved to Tyler, Tx for college and in one month there were three drunk driver incidents because people had to drive on 70mph roads in order to get to the county line liquor stores. If the county had been wet then they could have gone to a street corner.

I think it's the stores outside the county that spend the most on keeping a county dry.

I just set foot in Alabama for the first time in my life today. First thing I saw coming through the clouds were a couple of huge churches. I got to thinking that damn, I'm a Yankee, a heathen, and by their terms at least, a librul. I'm pretty much not going to talk down here.

To be fair, I haven't heard "Y'all are from around here, are ya?" or "Roll Tide!" yet. But I've only seen family. I've got a full day down here tomorrow before I have to go to a funeral on Tuesday. Right now I'm in the hotel, and there are no less than 15 different religious channels on the TV. I did manage to get beer tonight though.

Sure, the cost of living might be cheaper around here, but other than that I haven't seen a single compelling reason to spend any time here.

I have a lot of family in AL. I haven't been back in a while, but I remember when I was younger my parents would load us all into the car and drive down every other summer. He'd always make the joke that there were two food groups in AL - fried chicken and catfish.

/to be fair, there's also collard greens and corn bread//but darn, if there wasn't a sign advertising fried chicken and/or catfish every few miles on whatever road it was we took into Birmingham

State law allows each village to decide on restrictions, and some boroughs may prohibit it altogether.[57]Three terms describing Alaskan Villages in common usage:A "Dry Village" bans both the sale and possession of alcohol.A "Wet Village" permits both the sale and possession of alcohol.A "Damp Village" permits possession of alcohol but bans the sale of it..

HOW THE fark is possession illegal??SHEESHHHHHI hate these people.I am SOOOO going to get arrested in one of these dumb fark villages and then sue them blind.